Hemolymph Ecdysone Concentration as a Function of Sexual Maturity in the Male Snow Crab ( Chionoecetes opilio )

Ecdysone concentrations in the hemolymph of juvenile and morphometrically mature male snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) were determined by radioimmunoassay. A logarithmic transformation of the allometric relationship of the dry weight of the chelae versus the carapace width was used to identify morpho...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
Main Authors: Cormier, Roland J., Fraser, Alan R., Bailey, Richard F. J., Raymond, Nicole
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1992
Subjects:
Aquatic Science
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Chionoecetes opilio
Snow crab
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f92-180
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/f92-180
Description
Summary:Ecdysone concentrations in the hemolymph of juvenile and morphometrically mature male snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) were determined by radioimmunoassay. A logarithmic transformation of the allometric relationship of the dry weight of the chelae versus the carapace width was used to identify morphometric maturity. Results indicate that concentrations of ecdysone found in the hemolymph of juvenile crab are higher than those found in morphometrically mature crab, thus providing a biochemical basis for the observation that the onset of sexual maturity seems to coincide with a terminal molt.

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